The invention relates to a coupling for two adjacent rail sections of a model railway comprising a bed member with rails and a conductor rail held thereon, wherein there is arranged beneath the adjacent bed members a coupling member carrying at least two upwardly locking elements consisting of electrically conductive material which are elastically deformable and are not joined to one another, and in which projections which are in electrically conductive connection with the rails and the conductor rail, respectively, are engageable from above, whereby the projections corresponding to one another on the adjacent rail sections are mechanically and electrically connectable to one another via one locking element, in each case, and one locking element carries upwardly protruding elastic tongues, with the projections engageable in this locking element resting thereagainst.
In a known coupling member arranged beneath two adjacent rail sections, mechanical and electrical connections can be made between the rail sections by vertical pressing of the rail sections onto the coupling member from above (German Offenlegungsschrift No. 3 405 506). This readily enables removal of a rail section from a finished rail track without the other rail sections of the rail track having to be moved.
In a similar coupling member, it has already been suggested that the electrical and mechanical connections be made by joining projections protruding downwardly from the rails and conductor rails to the coupling member so that no connection means whatever are visible on the upper side of the rail section (German Patent Application No. P 34 14 503.6). With this known coupling member, the mechanical and electrical connection is made by the projections on the rails and conductor rails being clamped in between two spring tongues extending parallel to each other, and these spring tongues are all arranged parallel to the rail direction. To ensure a mechanically reliable connection of the adjacent rail sections, in this case, additional measures must be taken, for example, the coupling member must be additionally locked to the bed member of the two rail sections.